Sunday, July 07, 2013

Last month, the Little One told me she wanted to stop by Tuesday Morning to look for something for her grandpa for Father's Day. She got this idea from an earlier trip there when she found a nice plaque to give her grandma for Mother's Day. So off to Tuesday Morning we went. Upon walking into the store we were confronted by some yarn sitting on a shelf at the end of the aisle closest to the door. I had to take a look since it was right in front of me. There were balls in a handful of pretty colors. I had no idea what kind of yarn it was because the store slapped on a price sticker over the front, covering the name of the yarn and other important details. The Little One picked out the only 2 green balls (green is her current favorite color) and asked me to knit her a "feather boa". Hmmm, um ok, we'll just pick up these 2 balls and figure out what to make with them later.

After taking these home, I carefully peeled off the price sticker to find out what kind of yarn we got. Louisa Harding Ianthe. Never heard of it. 50% extra fine merino, 40% cotton. 110 yards per ball. Looks like DK weight yarn. Ok what can we make with 220 yards of yarn?

She wanted a "feather boa". The closest thing I could come up with was a Potato Chip Scarf. It's kinda sorta like a "feather boa", don't you think? (Use a little imagination) I was skeptical after knitting a few repeats of the scarf. It didn't look like much. It didn't even seem to ruffle or curl. But I kept going and it started to look better. I don't know how long this scarf will be in the end, but I think it will be OK since it is a "skinny" scarf.

I like this yarn. Someone told me that $3.99/ball was a good price. I should have picked up a few more balls in other colors. Oh well, too late now.

I'm a bit out of practice knitting. It's been more off than on in recent years due to various reasons (health, busy life, etc). I would really like to get back to knitting more regularly, especially when I have a lifetime supply of yarn I need to work through.

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Ok it's been a while and the Blogger interface looks different ... let's see if I can figure out how to create a new blog post. :)

Vicki gave me some Cascade 128 bulky(?) black yarn a couple years ago to make her some fingerless mitts. I haven't knit in a while and was a little rusty. It took me a while to figure out how to join a round. Eventually joined it and started knitting in a round. It wasn't too bad, knitting is a bit like riding a bike. It all came back to me. I even did the cables without a cable needle with no problems at all.

This is the first time I've ever worked with this yarn and I wasn't sure how much yardage I would need for a pair of fingerless mitts. I only have this one ball and hope it is enough. I've completed the main part of the first mitt and will hold off on doing the thumb until I have completed the second mitt. I figure I can knit the two thumbs in a different contrasting color yarn if I run out of the black yarn.The yarn label suggests a needle size of US10 or US10.5. I'm using US8 circular needles because I couldn't find 2 US9 or 2 US10 needles (a side effect of having too many WIPs hiding in obscure corners of the house). I am glad I'm using US8 because the mitt seems to fit just right and would have been too large if I had used a larger size.The photo above doesn't show the actual yarn color, it is a dark black color. I find it more difficult to see the stitches. It doesn't help that I do most of my knitting at night when the lighting is not very good.... now I need to start the second mitt. :).

Monday, November 14, 2011

I'm slowly getting back into knitting. It seems like years since I last finished something so it feels good to finally have something to show. This is my latest FO ... my 3AM Cable Hat knit for Dawn who is currently undergoing cancer treatment. This would normally be a quick knit requiring only a couple of days. Can you guess how long it took me? One week? Two weeks? Nope. It took me one month(!) of on and off knitting. I cast on 108 sts on 10/8 and weaved in ends on 11/9.

This was my first time working with this Superwash Bamboo yarn. It is a DK weight yarn, 65% superwash wool 35% bamboo, which feels soft in the hands. Dawn is actually the girlfriend of someone in my mafia. No, not a real mafia. LOL. Mafia Wars mafia. I asked him what colors she liked when I offered to knit her a hat; he told me black and red. Well, I didn't have any black yarn in my stash, but I did have some red. I love this Claret color and it has a nice sheen to it. I hope it holds up OK to everyday wear. It is supposedly machine washable. The label says machine wash cold, gentle, dry flat. The superwash wool I've knit quite a bit with in the past is a Cleckheaton, can't recall the exact name, Country somethingorother I think, which I liked a lot, a good workhorse yarn that held up well to washing. I'm hoping this Superwash Bamboo yarn will hold up just as well, but I'm not as hopeful since this yarn has a more "delicate" feel to it, I suppose it is the bamboo content?

This is what it looks like when brim in unfolded

I've never been good with measurements and sizing. Guage? What's that? I've never met Dawn before and had no idea what size hat she would need so I chose the 3AM Cable Hat for its forgiving nature. The cables are stretchy so should fit most people. And I chose to do a fold-up brim so Dawn can adjust how much coverage she needs. I finished knitting the K2P2 brim on 10/16, it was ~3" or 18 rounds, before I started the cable pattern. I finished knitting the hat on 11/7 and weaved in the ends on 11/9.

All I need to do now is find a large envelope and then mail this off. Hopefully in the next day or two.

Friday, September 30, 2011

It's been a while since I looked at my blog. Life got busy and for various reasons I was unable to knit. I eventually lost my mojo. It's still missing. Have you seen it anywhere? Due to the long absence, I find the Blogger interface has been updated and I need to get reacquainted with the new way of doing things.

I found this draft among my list of blog posts. It is dated January 2010. Looks like I meant to post a recap of 2009. I can't recall if there was anything else I intended to add to this list. 2009 seems like ancient history. Looking over the projects I mentioned in this draft, it looks like 2009 was the year I started learning how to knit socks. I still wear my hand knit socks during the winter, and they are all holding up great, with the exception of Practice Socks #2 which have shrunk a bit during washing and can no longer be worn.

Socks #8 listed below is a green textured pair of socks. I don't have these anymore. I gave it to my mom for Christmas. I'll try to dig up a photo of this pair and blog about it.

Socks #9 were red socks with a lacy traveling vine pattern. I gave these to my MIL for Christmas.

I found Socks #11, a finished pair(!), in my big bag of WIPS. These were knit with Online Supersocke 100 Savanne color 1031(variegated). I think I have photos of these somewhere, will share them with you later.

Now don't go thinking I'm pulling all this from memory. I have a little notebook with my scribbled project notes. :)

Ok, let's see if I remember how to add a photo to a blog post. :)

Deborah Norville Serenity Sock Yarn, Color 05 Tanzanite

I started a pair of socks for my the Little One (Socks #13), maybe around June/July 2010. She calls them the "rainbow" socks because the yarn is variegated. I'm still on the foot of sock #1 and am getting close to starting the short row heel. Boy am I glad the sock is stretchy, at this rate I'm not sure whether these will fit her by the time I finish the pair.

Friday, January 08, 2010

I've been looking at possible yarn colors for a season 12 Doctor Who Scarf for a few years now and could never decide for various reasons...

1. Most of the challenge was trying to find all the colors from the same brand. I know I could probably mix & match, but I thought the scarf would be more consistent if made from the same yarn.

2. The next thing was trying to keep the total cost way below $100. I was researching possible 100% wool yarns that would have made the cost of this scarf above $70. I don't know if I want to spend that much on a scarf that I can't really wear. I knew I could probably find the colors in acrylic yarn, but I didn't want acrylic. No, I'm not a yarn snob. There is a time and place for acrylic yarns and I do use them. I just feel that this scarf should be made with 100% wool.

3. I was in no great hurry to get started on this since it is such a loooooooong and booooooring project. Really. Nearly 64,000 stitches in garter stitch. Mind numbing! There are 1062 rows in this scarf, and I'm thinking of casting on 60 stitches (so it won't be too wide) --> 63,840 stitches total.

SEASON 12 OR SEASON 18?

The colors you see here are for the Season 12 scarf (Robot, Sontaran Experiment). I'll admit that I don't see myself wearing this color combo. I'm thinking the red/purple Season 18 (Leisure Hive) scarf colors suit me better. Well, I picked up the Season 12 colors so I'll knit that one first.

Next question is whether I'll ever wear this scarf. Can you imagine me at 1.53 m tall wearing a scarf that is 4.5 m to 5 m long ??? And I'd like to avoid pulling an Isadora Duncan...

I may end up gifting this to a Time Lord who can wear the scarf better than I can. Unfortunately, I'm quite positive the scarf will not be completed before Gallifrey One.

THE COLORS

I picked up 2 to 4 balls of these colors. I hope I have enough of each color to complete the scarf. In retrospect, I probably should have picked up 4 balls of each color just to be safe.

Chocolate Truffle, 4 skeins

Crimson, 4 skeins

Malt Heather, 4 skeins

Mayan Gold, 2 skeins

Oxford Grey Heather, 4 skeins

Plum Wine, 2 skeins

Tapenade, 4 skeins

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In December, we went down to San Diego for a few days to take the Little One to the zoo there. It's such a nice zoo, it makes the one in San Francisco feel like a ghetto. This zoo is HUGE! We went 2 days and still did not see everything. We'll have to visit the Wild Animal Park next time we head down there.

It was a long 12 hour drive to SD. I think the portable DVD player we brought with us was a life saver during that long stretch of nothingness along I-5. The Little One watched Happy Feet on the way there (thanks Vicki for the DVD!) and The Wiggles Live Hot Potatoes on the way back. On the way to SD, we were unfortunate to have made it over the hills into the (outer) Los Angeles area during evening rush hour. OMG, I will never complain about Bay Area traffic again. I don't know how people live with SoCal traffic.

While we were down there, we met up with some friends for dinner at Buca di Beppo in Mira Mesa. They have a daughter who is the same age as the Little One and they hit it off immediately. Well, I'd more accurately describe it as them feeding off each other. They were a happy boisterous pair, it was a good thing this restaurant is kid friendly.

The Little One had a nice Christmas. One of her gifts was a big Dug. That's the dog from the movie Up. We saw the movie before we headed down to SD. I loved the movie. I was trying to find a big Kevin (the big colorful bird from the movie) but they didn't have any more at the Disney Store. Since they had a B1G1 free sale on all their stuffed toys, I also picked up a big Tigger for her birthday in March.

We visited various Target Stores between home and SD, as they were perfect places for comfort stops and a little food. My local Target used to stock the Little One's favorite tea, Celestial Seasonings Sweet Coconut Thai Chai (it's decaf). However they have stopped carrying this tea after they knocked down and rebuilt the store. It's not sold at the next nearest Target or my 2 local supermarket chains. I was pleasantly surprised to find this tea at the Target store in Anaheim. Well that's quite a long distance from home, so I picked up 3 boxes while I was there.

I love Target stores, however I cannot recommend stopping by the store in Commerce. It's quite a distance away from the freeway (or maybe it seemed longer in the dark) and it is the only Target store I have seen with graffiti in the bathroom. There's even graffiti all over the diaper change station! Other Target stores are usually much nicer than this.

I got around to rewinding Vicki's hank of yarn into a ball. I had to do it by hand since I do not own a swift & ball winder. It's a good thing this is thick yarn. I'll be making a pair of mitts for Vicki using this yarn. I just hope there is enough yarn to make a pair. I've already got a couple of ideas for the design. Besides the one I mentioned earlier, I'm also kicking around the idea of a cable stitch that has a 4 row repeat so that I'll have more options for when to stop knitting the mitt. We'll see. I still need to figure out whether I have the correct size needles for this yarn. I'm not accustomed to knitting with thicker yarns.

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